Bending Origin
by xHadesChildx
Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers.  A story of Zuko,Toph,Katara and Aang.
1. Prologue

**Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**A/N: Hi! I've decided to do a new story because I don't like the other one. I would like to thank xMelodiix for her help in writing this and the next chapter.**

**Bending Origin**

**Prologue – Mysterious Happenings**

**By xAvatarLovex**

"Earlier today there was a mysterious fire that was started by an undetermined source," announced the news reporter. _Oh shit, that was me! _Zuko thought. Just then, there was a soft rap on the door. "Ugh," he groaned sliding off his couch and trudged wearily to the door. As he opened the door, he found himself looking at a tall, skinny man with amber eyes and a cold, piercing stare. "I see you've been expecting me," the mysterious man said. However, he turned out to be a warm, gentle man.

"Mmm…right…who the hell are you again?" Zuko replies, coldly.

"Oh, pardon me, I forgot to introduce myself! I am Ozai, a scientist that researches the supernatural control of the elements."

"Okay then…but why the hell are you even here? Out of all places?"

"Why, only because I believe you are one of the gifted kids out there with such abilities. The ability to control fire, I believe," announced Ozai.

"H-h-how did you know?" Zuko asked, surprised. As far as he knew, he was the only person who knew about his mysterious abilities. Until now.

"Well this 'mysterious fire' that happened today had no source. But you. You see, I looked at the security pictures that were taken before the fire and to the untrained eye, you would look like you were being completely weird but I recognize those movements as the movements used to move fire. Therefore, I believe it was you that started it."

"Well, what do you want then? To arrest me?"

"Arrest you?" Ozai looked surprised, "why of course not! I've come to offer you a place at The Institute of Supernatural Powers so we can study your powers and hopefully teach you how to control them in a more…appropriate manner."

"Umm… and how long will I have to give up of my time at this institute of yours?"

"There will be testing daily for a year while you attend classes that you would normally attend at high school as well. You will also get classes on how to control you powers after approximately two months in which we will briefly study you powers and teach you more about them. All meals and other fees will not need to be paid at all and you may do whatever you like in you free hours, although I would advise you to sleep – that is if you choose to accept this offer."

"And this institute is where, exactly?"

"Oh, in Sydney, Australia," replies Ozai, casually.

"WHAT! BUT I'M IN FREAKIN' AMERICA AND A TEENAGER CAN'T AFFORD A TRIP HALFWAY ACROSS THE WORLD!" Zuko raged, "I WOULD'VE THOUGHT IT WAS NEARBY, IN THE USA AT MOST!"

"Oh, I forgot to mention that – all your travel fees will be paid by my company and anything you will need that I have the power to provide, I will provide."

"So can I just write a list of anything I need and I will get it?" Zuko asked, hopefully.

"As long as it's appropriate – not like a lifetime's supply of chocolate or something," Ozai grimaced, thinking of how much chocolate that could possibly be, "oh, and I take it as you accept the offer?"

"It'll be appropriate and yes I will," Zuko replies.

"Okay then, your ticket and a list of requirements will be sent to you shortly and a list of things you need can be sent to me via this address," Ozai hands Zuko an intricately decorated business card, "then you will have to wait about a week before the things you need will arrive by air mail from Australia."

"Umm…alright then, I'll just go and think about this random decision I just made if you're done. Bye," Zuko slams the door in Ozai's face.

"Ugh! Teenagers these days. No manners," Ozai mutters to himself and walks away.

As soon as Zuko closes the door, he grabs a pen and paper before sitting comfortably on the couch. 'List of things I will need' Zuko writes at the top of the page. He places an asterisk next to the pre-drawn margin and wrote 'a Jack Russell puppy'. Then put, 'Dog/Puppy Health, Care and Safety Needs'. He continued like this down the rest of the page as well as two others. Some items he wrote included a bunch of other pets (even if they weren't

going to get along), the iPod he had wanted since his broke, some CDs that he never got around to buying but really wanted and new jackets and other items of clothing at random. Afterwards, he went to bed but could not sleep so he pondered his quick decision. Was it worth it?

**A/N: Thanks for reading guys! I'll try to post the next chapter soon =) But first, make sure you review 'cause I know you want to! So press that little button down there and review – even if its just to make me happy! I'm not posting the next chapter until I get at least 5 reviews (which is soo little) although I already have it written.**

**xAvatarLovex**


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary: Bending. What****'****s that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**A/N: Heyy! Thanks to those who have reviewed. I would like to thank xMelodiix for giving me ideas and helping me write this chapter =). I would also like to thank average thief for being the first to review. I would also like to thank those who have put this story on alert and/or on your favourites. From now on, I won't mention anybody in particular, nor will I reply to reviews in the author's note (I'll message you) because I don't want to waste your time to read this. I know I said I needed 5 reviews first but since I already wrote this I might as well post it =) but I won't be so nice from now on ^_^ I DEFINITELY WILL NOT POST THE NEXT CHAPTER UNLESS THERE ARE 5 REVIEWS. Hope you enjoy!**

**Bending Origin**

**Chapter 1 – Introductions, Room Arrangements and Dinner**

**By xAvatarLovex**

It had been a long, tiring flight for Zuko, but now he was standing in Sydney Airport. He looked around, not knowing what to do next. Then he saw it. A tanned teenager with a sign that read his name. Zuko walked towards him, "Do I know you?" he asked, rudely.

"Hi, I'm Sokka, a physical combat trainer and Ozai's assistant. He sent me to come pick you up and take you to the Institute," the boy replied, in a forced calm voice. They went to collect Zuko's many bags of luggage, as well as his bird cage with a yellow budgie, a cage with a brown and white Jack Russell puppy, another cage with a snow-white Persian kitten, a smaller cage with two brown and white guinea pigs and finally, a cage with a white and a creamy-brown bunny. "The horse will arrive later," Sokka informed, expressionlessly. That was the only thing that was said between them until they arrived at the Institute which was located in a remote country farm. "You will have to make room arrangements yourself with the other three that have similar powers to you. I will show you upstairs so you can meet the others and you will be given your timetables at dinner which is in one and a half hours time," Sokka stated, plainly, as if he'd said it a million times before. Zuko grabbed his luggage, or at least as much as he could carry, and proceeded to follow Sokka upstairs. As he got upstairs, he realised that there was one large bedroom with a hot tub in the bathroom and a double-bed. However the other three rooms had one single bed each, a small built-in wardrobe, a small bedside table and a bathroom. _Uh! Why do I have to arrive last? _Zuko thought in frustration, thinking that he wouldn't have a choice in which room he wanted. But that was not the case. He found a bald boy and two girls sitting in a circle on the large bed, talking about room arrangements. He slowly approached them, "Hi," he said, while debating whether to be nice or not. He decided to be nice, "I'm Zuko. I can control fire."

"Hi," the bald boy said, "I'm Aang-an airbender." He smiled, "It's very nice to meet you, and we were just discussing our room arrangements."

"Hi, I'm Katara," the tanned girl introduced herself, shyly, "and I'm a waterbender."

"Hey," the girl with the milky eyes said, "I'm Toph-an earthbender and I'm blind so I use seismic sense."

"Come join us," Aang invited, scooting towards Katara a little, leaving him a spot between himself and Toph. Zuko sat down feeling respected, for once. Back at home, people thought he was really weird how he could wear summer clothes in winter (due to his system that could heat himself) and that he could literally emit flames when he was angry – most of the time – leading people to treat him badly. "We were just wondering how we should arrange ourselves in these rooms because one – duh!" the blind girl, Toph, spoke, "so I have an idea- we'll vote on it. Say why you think you're worthy and we'll vote at the end to see who deserves it the most."

"Okay," Zuko muttered, deep in thought of what to say since he so desperately wanted this room.

"I go first!" Toph practically shouted, "I want this room because I'm blind and therefore deserve more space. I can't really sense anything here because this isn't made of earth and therefore I want this room."

"Me next!" Katara all but screamed, "I want it because I'm the most unique here out of you all. In the past, there have been air, fire and earth benders or variations of them, but never has there been water, or anything close to it. Therefore, I believe I deserve it for being unique."

"My turn!" Aang screeched, "I want it because I am the most admired for my abilities and fame gives me this room."

"Well, since I'm the only one left, I guess it's my turn," Zuko says in a bored voice, "I want this room because of my large collection of pets. I can't possibly keep them all in a small room."

"Okay, vote time," Toph announced, "and you can't vote for yourself. Raise your hand if you want to vote for me," Aang raised his hand. "One," she announced, "what about Katara?" Zuko raised his hand. "One," she announced, "and for Aang?" Toph raised her hand. "One," she announced, "and for Zuko?" Katara's hand shot up. "One! What the hell! Tied vote!" Just then, Sokka walked in with the rest of Zuko's luggage, "Hey guys, watcha doing?"

"Oh, just had a tied vote while deciding on who gets the big bedroom," Toph grumbled, "could you help us?"

"Umm… sure."

"Okay, I want this room 'cause I'm blind, Katara 'cause her waterbending is unique, Aang 'cause his airbending is most famous and Zuko 'cause his pets need room."

"Zuko. His reason is most logical. Your blind so it'll be HARDER to navigate and uniqueness and fame doesn't necessarily mean you get a bigger room. But I still hate you, Zuko," Sokka states plainly, only showing emotion in the last sentence.

Those who didn't get the bigger room trudged out of it and decided to start their unpacking since there was only an hour till dinner. Who knew that voting would take so long! Zuko, however, lay on his bed for a few moments before he decided to get up and unpack as well. He set up an enclosed play area for his puppy; which was located in a corner, a small, portable avery was hung in another corner for his budgie(the avery was quite a bit larger than the cage but it was very cage-like), a small play-pen was set up for his guinea pigs and another for his bunnies. His horse would live in the paddock and stable outside as it obviously could not fit in the room. Next, he started to unpack and found that he filled his massive wardrobe to the brim. _WOW! I didn't notice I brought this much clothing, _he thought to himself. After he was finally done, he realised that there were about two minutes until dinner so he hurriedly cleaned his hands and headed downstairs.

When he got downstairs, Zuko had almost no trouble finding the dining room. He stood at the door to the dining room, mouth agape. It had a huge, round, wooden table in the middle which held a wooden turntable. Under the turntable, there was a creamy tablecloth that looked very much like silk. There were six leather seats situated around the table, one for each present person. In front of each sit lay a large array of cutlery, ranging from different sized spoons, to different sized forks and knives as well as a china plate with an intricately decorated edge and a matching glass that had the pattern printed on the outer surface. There was also a napkin, which was situated under the cutlery, that was decorated in a similar pattern to the plate and cup but in a different colour theme. He realised that the tablecloth was also decorated in a similar manner but, once again, was in a different colour theme.

"Hello Zuko," Sokka said, grimly, "don't think I like you at all-although I gave you the good room. It was only out of logic 'cause the other reasons made no sense to me and that's a very unusual thing to happen."

Sokka chuckles, "Go take a seat. Dinner will be served in a few minutes."

"Sure, thanks for giving me the room Sokka," Zuko replied, kindly. He had decided that he would be kind to these people as they were being kind to him. For now, anyways. As he took a seat at the dinner table, the others started arriving. He ended up being situated between Katara and Toph. Katara sat next to Aang who would be sitting next to Ozai when he arrived. Toph sat next to Sokka, who would also be sitting next to Ozai when he arrived.

At that moment, Ozai walked in through the door to see everybody already seated and the food already laid out. He realised he was slightly late. But Ozai was NEVER late. He refused to admit that he was late and therefore did not excuse himself for being so. He looked up at the clock which read 6:05. He realised he WAS late but never bothered to acknowledge that. He sat down at the only seat left, "Hello everyone. As you know, my name is Ozai-which is what you will be calling me from now on and for as long as you know me. I would like to welcome you to The Institute of Supernatural Powers which you will all be attending for the next year. Today we will be having a formal dinner, as you can see, but normally I will only occasionally be attending meals, if ever, but I will regularly visit during testing to see how things are going. Dinners will normally be a lot less formal. You will all be attending school during weekdays form 9am to 3pm. Sokka will drive you to and from school as he can drive and will need to be attending school himself. Then there will be testing from 4pm till 6pm, which will be dinner then the rest is free time for homework and sleep. You may not leave the Institute grounds unless either Sokka or myself are with you, or you have special permission from either myself or Sokka. In the mornings, you will be expected to up for breakfast by 8 although you may get up earlier and make your own food with the supplies we have if you wish. YOU MAY NOT ORDER TAKE-AWAY FOOD OR YOU WILL BE SEVERELY PUNISHED! On weekends, you will be tested during what would normally be school hours and the rest of your time is your own. Sokka will, of course, be testing you and since he is a physical combat trainer, he will be holding lessons for those who wish to participate on Sunday afternoons. More specific details will be available from him later. I would also like you to know that you are all unique people and since you have chosen to come here and let me study you powers, you will be greatly rewarded. You all deserve to be more powerful as you have special powers given to you only and you deserve to be on the top of the world and I will make that happen. Now remember that. OH! And I forgot to mention that you will be allowed to call your friends and relatives whenever you find necessary, as long as Sokka or myself have been notified beforehand. Otherwise, the phone is off-limits. Now lets tuck in, shall we? I'm sure you're all hungry," Ozai finally finished. Since all the students would be hungry, since there had been no food since they left their homes or during the trip, they all tucked in immediately. As for Ozai, he slowly slid his napkin onto his lap, on top of his black pants, and slid another napkin into his collar as to prevent any food spilling down his tuxedo-clad front. He then slowly started chopping up his steak and placed a piece in his mouth, savouring the taste, as if he had all the time in the world while the others ate quickly and messily, although they knew very well it was formal dinner, Sokka being the worst. He stabbed the middle of his steak with his fork and lifted it off the plate, then proceeded to tear the flesh off as if it were his mortal enemy and had to bite it to death. At least the others had decided to cut up their steak so it looked even the tiniest bit more polite. Ozai grimaced at the teens' behaviour. _Seriously! Teenagers these days! _He thought to himself, but continued eating without saying anything to them. _They'll soon realise their mistake, not only for being so rude but for everything._

**A/N: Heyy again, guys! Like I said at the beginning, I will not post anything until there are at least 5 (5!) reviews. I don't care if they're critical because this is only my second fanfic… and I basically live on reviews-which you will understand if you write fanfic also. I have notified that there are over 50 visits to this story in 3 days or so and yet I have only received 2 reviews! Come on guys, its not that hard! All you have to do is click that button down there and type a few words to me, whatever they are! I originally wanted to post this because school is starting tomorrow so I might not post as often-although I will try and also since today is my birthday and I felt happy and nice-which gives you another reason to review (to wish me a happy b'day) and while you're at it, why not just tell me how you think I'm going on this story! And of course I just had to leave you guys on a cliffy! Hmm... what have the teens done thats a mistake?**

**I love all my readers and I love those who comment even more!**

**xAvatarLovex**


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**A/N: Heyy guys! Thank-you to all those of you who reviewed! And to answer AmayaNight's question (since you turned off PM) – Ozai has no relation to Zuko whatsoever. In this story, Zuko's an orphan and his guardian is Iroh, who he always thought was his father. He is, however, almost old enough to look after himself. And for anyone who's wondering, Katara is Sokka's long-lost sibling but I might not actually put that in the story. Review and tell me what you want! I'm sorry for not posting earlier. I did say 5 reviews but I was busy. Next chapter will be posted on the 13 review mark – which is only 5 reviews away! I hope I will get the next chapter up soon. =)**

**So thanks for reviewing everyone and I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Bending Origin**

**Chapter 2 – Day One at the Institute**

**By xAvatarLovex**

Zuko stirred and woke up to a strange and unfamiliar, yet luxurious, bed. He yawned and slowly opened his eyes. Bright light shone on his face, causing him to close and scrub his eyes. He then reopened them to find himself in an extremely large bed. Zuko then remembered. He was at the Institute of Supernatural Powers and today would be his first day. He groaned and turned around to face his clock. It was 7:40am! He had overslept his alarm that went off at least half an hour ago. _Shit! _He thought. Breakfast was at 8:00am and he was still in bed! He shot up, collected his school uniform and dashed into the bathroom. He hated being late to breakfast and hate the school uniform even more. It consisted of a lemony-yellow over blouse, grey shorts, black, leather shoes, deep red/scarlet striped socks, deep red/scarlet diagonally-striped tie and a deep red jacket with the school emblem printed on the left chest on top of the chest pocket. In winter, the grey shorts would turn to grey pants. All items of clothing, except shoes and tie, had the school's emblem on it. He quickly showered and changed, quickly tamed his hair to no avail and ran down the stairs. _BAM! _Just before he turned the corner he bumped into a certain tanned girl. He fell back and blushed. _Blushed! _Since when did he EVER blush? "S-s-sorry…" Zuko stammered. _Stammered! _Since when did he EVER stammer?

"No, no, it's my fault. I wasn't looking at where I was going," Katara replied, embarrassed.

"I was rushing. I should've gotten up earlier," he argued, trying to blame himself. _Blame himself! _Since when did he EVER try to blame himself? This girl was melting him. Zuko tried to regain composure but lost hope after a few seconds. "Umm… I better get down to breakfast before I miss it altogether," Zuko muttered before excusing himself and hurrying downstairs. He felt a slight blush on his cheeks on the way down and an odd feeling inside of himself which he had only had once before and that was when he realised his love for his girlfriend, Jin, which he had long dumped after finding her cheating on him. He realised that he had feelings for Katara. _But she seemed so close to Aang, _he thought. He made a mental note to himself to ask Aang if they were together and if they were he would hold a permanent grudge against Aang. He liked that girl! He quickly walked to the dining room and found himself 5 minutes late but there was still plenty of food. He sat down and greeted everyone before helping himself to two slices of pancakes, a glass of milk and three scoops of scrambled eggs as well as a half of a mango. He then quickly dashed upstairs and packed his things just in time for Sokka to drive him and the others to school. When he arrived he followed the others to class as they all had the same classes.

At break, he stayed with the rest of the group. They seemed popular as people kept coming up to 'the new kids' and asking for their backgrounds ad they would just say, "We're from out of town and only here temporarily because they were doing something here," but they were not often believed, therefore leaving the students of the school to come up with their own reasons – none of which were close to the real reason.

"Heyy, I'm Abigail but people call me Abby," one of the girls said to Zuko.

"Uh…hi, I'm Zuko," he replied in an even, expressionless tone.

The girl ran back to her group, screaming, "AAHHH! The boy talked to me!"

Zuko, who was familiar with how girls would want to flirt with him since he was new boy quite a lot due to his frequent travels, had not expected something like this to happen. Sokka, who had attended this school prior to now, was really popular since he was known as 'the new kids' friend.' Sokka, altho**ugh** was popular when hanging out with the new kids, liked to sometimes just hang out with his friends from the school and whenever he did, he would be impossible to find. Sometimes, Zuko would wonder where he had really gone, since even searching every inch of the school grounds could not seem to find him. However, he always appeared right before the next class or break before going off again. Sometimes, this seemed somewhat suspicious.

Every afternoon, Sokka would be found in his car ready to leave. The Gaang would be driven back to the Institute – although would be followed occasionally, causing Sokka to have to take unnecessary turns and double back a lot – and when they got back, they would have time to shower and change before having to do some testing. Situated on the kitchen bench were a series of snacks for afternoon tea for all those who wanted one – which included all the boys and no girls. Sokka decided that it would be appropriate to eat at least five times more than the others although he was their leader and supervisor and should be the sensible one. At precisely 4pm, Sokka called everyone into the lab. Zuko had expected a large, metal building with lots of machinery but instead of that he saw something else. There were several bowls of water, presumably for Katara, a few boulders, presumably for Toph, all the windows were opened halfway, presumably for Aang, and a lit fire torch close to the window to prevent the room to be filled with lots of smoke.

"Katara, you will practice your waterbending with the water provided, Toph-do the same but with the boulders, Zuko-torch, please try not to burn down the Institute and Aang-whatever air you can find. I will be coming around to check you guys and ask questions as well as possibly asking you to perform certain things for me to see. Ozai will be coming here in the next hour or so, so make sure you're not mucking around," Sokka said, seriously and started towards the bowls of water. Everyone else walked to their respective spots and started doing what they were supposed to. Katara, who was known to have healing abilities as well as her ability to control water was looked at first by Sokka but since they were about the same age, so nothing felt awkward. Katara stared at the water for a second before moving her hands in a way you would see people do Tai Chi Chuan- which is a Chinese form of martial arts that feature slow and elegant movements- and the water followed her hands but never once touching any part of her body or the floor. Sokka stared in awe, as he had never seen anything like this before. After about a minute, Katara directed the water back into its respective bowls and breathed in deeply. "My waterbending is at its peak at night time, especially when there is a full moon. You may test me again then if you wish," she stated.

"Umm…okay. I'll talk to Ozai about it. Now, is it okay if you show me some healing? I just hurt my thumb – paper-cut," Sokka replied.

"Uh sure, I guess. I've never really tried healing that much before so I might not be able to though."

"Doesn't matter, it's an experiment and research, not a test."

"Okay, here goes…" with that, Katara raised just enough water to coat her hands in water to make it look like she was wearing a water-glove. She wrapped one hand around Sokka's thumb and the water started to glow just as she was losing hope. As the water glowed, Sokka smiled. _This felt good, _he thought. However, he instantly snapped back out of his trance when Katara removed her healing glove and placed the water back in to its bowl. Sokka examined his thumb and found that there was not a single trace of a cut of any sort on it. He smiled, "Nice job. Keep working and you'll be pro in no time!" With that, he walked over to Toph to test her ability, then Aang's and then finally Zuko's. Sokka was quite pleased with the day's testing. Exactly an hour after testing started, Ozai walked in through the door and hung up his coat before going into the testing lab. As he entered, Sokka walked towards him and spoke to him softly before showing him the data he had collected while explaining it in a much louder voice. Zuko started to grow slightly suspicious. After all, what was there to hide? What had Sokka been saying? Everyone here had seen everyone else's tests and anything secretive would have been easily seen, so what was he hiding? He could not tell but gave himself a mental note to investigate. And soon.

At the end of testing, everybody went to dinner except Ozai who left immediately after dinner was going to be served. At dinner, it was most definitely a lot less formal than the first dinner. The table had no tablecloth, the cutlery was plastic and the food was just in small containers that looked disposable. Zuko sat down with everyone else and dug in but found that he was not particularly hungry, well certainly not like Sokka anyway. Sokka was literally gulping down the food without chewing, or attempting to chew, it. He picked up chicken wing and chicken drumstick after each other and tore off the meat without a second glance. He was eating as if it was the last day of the world! Zuko quickly ate a little and excused himself although nobody but Katara paid any attention. He walked back to his room to find his animals all making a lot of noise and realised that his room had a sound-proof barrier since he could not here any of this racket before he entered. He thought about why his pets were making so much noise and realised he hadn't fed them since before they arrived in Australia yesterday. "Oh crap!" he cursed and quickly went to start rummaging through one of the cupboards that contained the food for his pets. After searching for a while, he finally found a few large bags of food for his pets. That was pretty lucky too, because his animals were getting extremely restless. After taking a while to locate all the food bowls, he quickly poured some food for each animal which finally calmed them down. Zuko sighed heavily and flopped onto his bed. He turned his head to check the clock to find that it said 7:10pm. _OMG! I took 45 minutes feeding my pets! _He thought to himself. He lazily got up and fetched his homework from his school bag and laid on his stomach of his bed pondering on whether to do his math homework, his English homework or his science assignment first. After a few minutes, he decided to do his math homework because that would take the longest. He reached over to his bedside table to grab his iPod so he could put on some tunes but it was not there. He got up and frantically searched in every possible and impossible place it could have been but could not find it. He knew that he had it at school and that he placed it into his pocket. He then took it out and put it on his bedside table just before he went into the shower. Since then, nobody could have possibly been in his room except Sokka who, he just realised, had arrived a little late to the testing. Everybody assumed that he had just been stuffing himself full while everyone else went to the lab, but what was he really doing? Was he in Zuko's room? What else had he stolen?

**A/N: Heyy again guys! Thanks for reading and still following although I may not be constantly updating coz I'm busy. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and tell me who you think is the mystery thief! This may not be revealed until further chapters-possibly even up to chapter 10 where all the action starts. Or maybe not that far away ^_^**

**Please review and tell me what you think and what you want to happen! Do you think Sokka and Katara will find out they are related? Who's the mystery thief? **

**I don't know, you tell me!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**A/N: Here's the next chapter for you guys! Thanks for all the review, I really appreciate it and it's great to know that so many people like this story! Okay then, here's the next chapter for you awesome readers to enjoy. Once again, remember to review and tell me who you think the mystery thief is! And what was Sokka whispering about to Ozai? I don't know! You tell me! =) ENJOY!**

**Bending Origin**

**Chapter 3 – The Lost iPod**

**By xAvatarLovex**

After completing his homework without music, Zuko promptly fell asleep after shoving all his books either into his drawer or into his bag ready for the next school day, which was highly unusual for him since he was the unorganized guy who could never live a day of homework without music. The next morning, Zuko got up half an hour earlier than necessary and searched for his iPod once again but found nothing, once again. After a while, he decided to shower and go down to breakfast. After making his own breakfast consisting of many half-burnt pancakes and some not-so-tasty cereal with low fat milk (since that was the only one there was at the moment), Zuko went back upstairs and searched again for his iPod but to no avail. His iPod was truly missing. He had searched every possible and impossible place. Just then his dog woke and barked softly to alert Zuko that he was awake.

Soon after, every other pet began to wake up, causing Zuko to have to once again search for the food that the pets could have. Although this didn't take him that long since he already had a rough idea of where it was from last night, he still took 10 whole minutes just to find a few bags of food. After feeding his pets and playing with them slightly, he sat on his bed and reviewed his homework since he could find nothing better to do. He found that not only had he completed all his homework, but, as far he was concerned, it was all correct too.

He set his alarm clock just in case he got carried away and slowly fell asleep again. What seemed like a few minutes later, he awoke to his alarm clock singing 'Friday' extremely loudly. He groaned and turned around and put his uniform on before going downstairs with his stuff and greeted everyone there.

As they piled into Sokka's car for the trip to school, he decided to bring up the topic of his lost iPod. As he said that it was missing, Sokka seemed to fumble with the wheel and a worried expression crossed his face but he immediately regained his composure and acted as if nothing had happened. Toph, however, clearly noticed that he had fumbled for a second and she could also feel his heartbeat pick up and he was attempting to slow it down because the car was metal and she had taught herself to metal-bend after discovering he divine ability to manipulate the earth. However, she decided not to mention anything and opted to say, "Sokka, you okay? You seem a bit pale," although Sokka was not at all noticeably pale.

"Uh…y-yes Toph. I-I-I'm fine thank-k-you," he stuttered.

" 'Course you are, Meathead," she replied.

"Meathead?" Katara questioned.

"Yes, Meathead, you guys all have nicknames according to your personality, actually. Zuko is Sparky-which is self-explanatory, Aang is Twinkletoes since I can barely sense his presence sometimes due to his ability to airbend, Katara is Sugar Queen because she is so sweet and people like to refer to me as the Blind Bandit as I am blind yet strong and stealthy," she replied, happily.

Sokka, who was barely listening and was trying to drive without causing any suspicion, had heard the last bit of Toph's words and got this feeling that he was being watched by her. After all, she could probably sense his heartbeat and sense how unstable he currently was but it was good of her to ignore it, or at least not mention it to anyone. Yet.

Soon, they arrived at the school and Sokka quickly walked off to supposedly find his friends. However, he was heading in the opposite direction to where his friends usually were since he had something else more important to do, or as he was told anyway.

The rest of the Gaang, which is what they called themselves and Aang was the main one of the group and therefore was named after him, went on with their daily lives. Later that afternoon, Sokka had reappeared and, as usual, drove them all back to the Institute so they could start the testing.

As soon as they were home, Zuko dashed for his room and fed his pets to prevent them from getting angry at him and then quickly took a shower. It was only 3:30pm when he was done and he had an extra half-an-hour on his hands. He would have taken a nap, but if he did, he would have to get up before he would've gotten to sleep so he opted to do his many pages of homework instead. He quickly finished off anything easy and when he got up to his assignments, he realised it was time for testing.

Testing was just about exactly the same as the day before and soon afterwards, it was dinner time. At dinner they had steak that was perfectly cooked, MORE mash potato and a choice of either lemonade or water. Everybody except Aang chose lemonade. After hastily finishing his meal, for he was not at all hungry, Zuko went back to his room and started on his Science Assignment which read '_Explain the effects when liquid nitrogen is added to different substances in a PowerPoint presentation. You may choose up to 5 different things to do your experiment on and a minimum of 3 must be chosen. Liquid nitrogen has been attached in a smaller tank/bottle for you inside the zip-lock bag that contains other materials for this assignment. If possible, do this assignment alone and if completely necessary, then you may work with other people but a group must not exceed 3.'_

_Okay then,_ Zuko thought, _I will do this alone and I'll test it on whatever I have in this Institute that is obtainable._ He smiled. _This assignment could probably be done in a day._

And he did. The next assignment was a history assignment. Oh how much Zuko hated history. He didn't get why one should learn history as he thought that it was pointless. What's past is past. Why do we need to learn it in the present when what has happened in history won't really bother them anymore. Technology was more advanced now and it's not like we would have to walk around in 50 layers even on the hottest days of the summer and have to starve to death because of 40-hour famines, nowadays. Sure, some countries were really poor and people were starving but that doesn't meant learning history will help them. He just hated history as it did nothing to teach him anything about the modern world. It did not benefit him or anyone else in any way, even if he learnt all the history there could possibly be.

As he looked at his homework sheet, he sighed. It read '_Present an essay on the history of Australia. This essay must be typed and at least 3000 words and the font size must be 12 at the largest. This should take about 6-7 pages. References must all be included. NO COPY AND PASTING! TEACHERS WILL CHECK THE WEBSITE AND ANYTHING MADE UP WILL BE DELETED. DUE: next Thursday 12__th__. If late, DETENTION!'_

Zuko decided to get the stupid history assignment over with first. He grabbed his laptop and started looking up Australian history as he did not learn much of it when he was in America. After all, Americans preferred to learn American history as it was, not only longer and more interesting, but was history of their native country.

After searching a few sights, he found something on Wikipedia that interested him. He quickly skimmed through and found some points on the early settlers, Captain Cook(he gave himself a mental note to look him up later), the aboriginals and the first fleet with their convicts. He then checked out a few points on the Australian Gold Rush and the Eureka Stockade. Afterwards he searched some stuff about the colonies and the establishment of Australia becoming a whole country and having Federation. He quickly jots down a few dates and the past prime ministers of Australia.

Soon, he had what he thought to be enough information for this essay and began writing. He tried to put in as much description and detail as possible so he wouldn't have to come up with more and more ideas but a man can only describe one thing so much. After a few hours of tiring typing, Zuko had finally completed the assignment and proof-read it a few times too. He sent it to his beta reader on this beta-reading site and asked her to beta-read it when she had a chance. He hoped, however, that she would do it quickly so he could hand it in. And as he had hoped, she had sent it back in a matter of minutes, all read and corrected. He thanked her and put it on his USB so he could hand it in tomorrow. By the time he was done, it was already 11:59pm and approaching midnight very, very soon. He quickly took off his shirt and threw it into an empty corner and took off his pants so that he was only wearing his 'The Simpsons' boxers and climbed under the cover so he could get some sleep for the next fast-approaching day. However, that night he had a dream he could remember very well and was very odd.

**A/N: DUN, DUN, DUN! So, who's the mystery thief and what was Zuko's dream about? I actually have no idea for the details yet but I can tell you that the whole of the next chapter will be devoted to dream! So therefore, it will be a filler but I promise that it will be exciting! Oh and where do you think Sokka is going to every day at school? I actually have no idea! Anyways, thanks for reading and reviewing. I can't be bothered to wait for reviews but I can easily see that lots of people are reading this and I'm pleased. Thanks to everyone who review ( 3 3 3 ), puts me/story on alert or adds me/story to fav! You guys are all awesome!**

**xAvatarLovex**


	5. Chapter 4

**Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**A/N: Heyy, thanks for reading! =) However, I would like to get some reviews if that's okay with you guys 'cause I haven't gotten one since Chapter 2 and I thrive on reviews so it'd **

**Bending Origin**

**Chapter 4 – The Dream**

**By xAvatarLovex**

_Zuko found himself in a corridor in a place which seemed oddly familiar but he could not tell where he was. As he observed his surroundings, he realized that the walls looked immensely similar to the ones at the Institute. He realized that he might as well explore and make the best of the time he had. As Zuko roamed the corridors of this eerie place, he found no doors and every wall looked exactly the same with no decorations whatsoever. It was almost like the walls had been cloned and then put together. "_But there had to be a door of some sort somewhere….since this building did not seem to have a purpose that could be seen in its corridors…_" He decided that this seemed a lot like a secret building and he walked over to the left wall to feel for any hidden doorways. _

_As he advanced through the corridor, he thought that he would not ever find anything but just as he was going to give up hope, he found a slight crack in the wall that would have been invisible if you were just walking past. As he trailed his hand along the crack, he discovered a shape that was like a door but the top was only half the height of a regular door. He felt for a handle of some sort but found none so he tried yanking the piece of wood off the wall. This was the solution. He crawled through the narrow gap and found himself in a narrow tunnel much like that of an air vent. As he crawled through, the tunnel was lit by several light bulbs attached to the side of the walls, illuminating the path ahead-something that was not normal for an air vent. But it was not an air vent. It was what seemed like a secret passage. As Zuko crawled through, the further he went the brighter the light got. _

_After what seemed like tireless hours of crawling, he finally reached the end of the tunnel. It was a dead end…. Or it was another secret door. He felt around the door and, unsurprisingly, found a latch. HE pulled on it and the door opened, revealing a vast room with a long, meeting table situated in the middle with 10 chairs down either side and one at the end, furthest away from the door. This would most likely be the chair of the head of the meeting. All these chairs were extremely tall and were taller than the occupants' head._

_Just then, Zuko heard an odd half-cough, half-murmur type noise coming from the head's chair. Zuko quickly ducked back into the passage and looked around the room. Opposite him was a large set of oak doors that almost reached the roof. To both the sides were large windows of coloured, patterned glass. Through this glass, streamed strong rays of sunlight that lit up the table. Above the table was a glass chandelier with crystal tear-drops. In the middle was a small light bulb that would light up the whole room when turned on. If the surroundings weren't so odd, he would think that the room was quite beautiful. _Beautiful! _He was Zuko, not a guy who thinks that things are _beautiful._ As he battled with his mind, the mysterious man at the table half-coughed again. This caught Zuko's attention. As he turned around, he realised he could not clearly see the face as the chair blocked out most of the person's features from the angle Zuko was at. _

_Opposite Zuko was another air vent, very much like the one he was in. Just then, the panel to the air vent opened and the face of the girl he so wanted, WAIT, WHAT?, known as Katara appeared. She was in a black, tight suit that seemed like the perfect attire for spy business. This make Zuko realise that his attire was extremely unsuitable for what he was currently doing. He realised that he was wearing one of his tightest pairs of skinny jeans, a collar-less top which had the picture of his favourite rock band on it with a navy-blue background, Nike Air shoes and a white, sports jacket. As he looked at Katara, he realised how un-alike they looked by attire and probably by mission, too. _

_He was here by random chance and she was here because she had a mission to accomplish. He looked into the chocolate brown eyes of Katara's and as she caught his gaze, she smiled slightly and gave him a confused look which easily said '_Why are you here?'

_In return he just shrugged. "_By random chance" _he mouthed._

_She nodded in understanding and continued on with the spying she was currently here to do._

_As she did this, Zuko turned around to see if he could just crawl out but as he looked at the dark shadowy air vent behind him, his curiosity for the man in the chair in front of him got the better of him. He turned back around, causing Katara to give him an odd what-in-the-world-are-you-doing-? Stare. _

_He just gave her a look that clearly said, possibly-the-same-as-you._

_He looked intently at the chair situated beneath him, showing to Katara that he was trying to identify the person in the chair beneath him. _

_Moments later, the large, wooden doors in front of the man opened. Katara and Zuko simultaneously sank back into the shadow of the air vent. As the door opened, two burly guards walked in first followed by a set of people dressed in neat suits and another set of guards._

_Zuko suppressed a yawn and suddenly realised how tired he was. Instinctively, he raised his right arm where his watch was usually located. However, on this strange day when he needed it, it wasn't there. He glanced at Katara and motioned to his wrist in an attempt to ask her for the time but she just shook her head. She didn't know either. _

_He glanced downwards to see if he could recognize any of the faces in the chairs beneath. He caught sight of a familiar tanned face that turned out to be that of Sokka's. Zuko gasped involuntarily._

"_Who's there?" the head man said, loudly._

_Zuko fought to keep his breathing in control and tried to stay as still as possible. Luckily, the mysterious man who, for some odd reason, sounded a lot like Ozai did not notice him. Zuko let out a silent sigh and proceeded to listen intently to the conversation._

Ozai: _So, right now I have four of the most powerful people in my care. They are benders of four different elements. They are fire, water, earth and air. I called you all here today to see if you had any idea on further progress with these teens or if we should just leave them be? Or if you possibly have any information?_

Sokka: _I obtained all their iPods during school hours or when they were at in the shower. Nothing about the Institute and no emails sent since they got here or tweets, Facebook updates or anything of the sort. The only thing is music preferences in genres and favourite singers as well as a few notes on what seems like stories._

Ozai:_ Very well. Keep up the good work Sokka and you will get a country to yourself after we dominate the world. Oh, and all the food you like. Anybody else?_

The crowd: _No…,_they chorused.

_He glanced quickly at Katara to find that she had a stony expression on her face and her lips were set in a hard line. She blinked a few times quickly then turned her head and silently made her way further into the deep shadows of the air vent she came through earlier. It was obvious that something had hurt her. He wanted to call out to her but he caught his tongue just before he did as he just realised that he would be caught by the men beneath him, including Sokka, who seemed to be Ozai's most trusted man since he was sitting in the seat to the immediate right side of Ozai._

_At that moment, he heard a muffled noise behind where he was currently seated, watching the scene beneath him unfold._

"_You are dismissed," Ozai called, "meet me back here in a month's time and try to find some information on anything to do with this, will you. Even if it's only a date of a small significance like the day when everyone will be unprepared for an invasion."_

_One after one, the guests pushed their chairs back and filed out of the room, followed by the security guards in the same manner as to when they first entered. _

_Zuko turned around to find Katara behind him, whimpering. "Are you okay?" he asked tenderly. _

_*Sniffle* *Sniffle* "I-I-I didn't, Sokka c-couldn't d-do this to m-me. H-he is m-my b-brother. H-h-he would not use m-me l-like this," Katara whimpered and buried her head into his chest._

"_Wait, what? Sokka and you are related? How could he!" Zuko growled._

_Katara did not respond. He heard a quite sniffle and instinctively placed a hand over the small of her back and rubbed it without thinking. Luckily, she did not mind. Katara poured all her tears out, creating a growing wet patch on Zuko's top but he didn't mind. However, he felt uncomfortable as he didn't know what to do so he did the only thing he could think of. He let her do what she had to do before leaving. He would rub her back continuously and would occasionally murmur soothing words into her ear, like "It's going to be alright," or "Don't worry, everything will be fine in the end – trust me," but he could not guarantee that everything he said was going to be true. As he enveloped her in a light hug and pressed his lips to her forehead. She gasped but did not complain. In fact, she attempted to lean in closer to his warm lips. He felt a smile tug at his lips. He thought that he might as well ask Katara about Aang now._

"_So, um, about you and Aang…"_

"_Oh!" she gasped, "of course you would want to know. I should have said earlier. He's a family friend. He's like a brother to me. We seem really close but he is nothing more to me than a brother that loved me that I never had. Sokka was always distant. He helped me when I needed help but since I couldn't save mum, he seemed furious at first then he became really distant. I was only 5 when mum died and I first discovered waterbending."_

"_Oh, I'm sorry," Zuko replied, not knowing what to say. He had been 12 when he discovered his ability over fire and at first he was frightened but he later felt dominant over his group at school until they ditched him because they didn't want to lose their popularity as everyone thought he was weird. No popular group would ever hang out with the weird kids. Zuko fell fast in that chart. From most popular boy to the one people hated the most and would never talk to him if they didn't have to. From then on, he decided to use his powers to his advantage. His teachers also knew of his powers but they tried to pretend they didn't know. Everyone but his uncle was distant in his life._

_After a few more minutes, Katara started getting up and crawling out of the air vent she and Zuko were currently in. As she did so, she mumbled a very soft, almost inaudible, 'thank you' towards Zuko who just smiled and nodded. _

"_I'll always be here," he replied and followed Katara down the dark air vent. As soon as he made it to the exit, he felt an odd feeling on his back. He gasped and turned around and to his amazement he found…_

**A/N: Hello faithful readers! =) Soo… hope you're enjoying it so far and I just had to leave it on a cliffy so if you want the next chapter up soon, please update! I actually have no clue if I should finish this or just leave it and go on with Zuko's life. Or would you guys like a story more from Katara's P.O.V? Review to tell me! =)  
>Oh, and for those of you who read Harry Potter fics, could you recommend me some good Dramione fics coz I can't find many. If you're a Dramione writer, then that's even better! =)<br>So, please review now and click that little button down there… it won't hurt you…. :P**

**-xAvatarLovex**


	6. Chapter 5

**Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**A/N: Heyy! As you know, I haven't updated in a while and that's because I have writer's block! Didn't know how to make this chapter interesting… so yeah. Hope you like what I've done to this chapter! I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewing and it'd be great if you could continue to do so. If you haven't realised so already, I am putting sneak peeks and updates on what I'm doing on my profile so make sure to check it out! Oh, and do you guys want this to be a Kataang with Zuko with another OC chic or Mai or a Zutara with Taang? Review ASAP to vote! Now…on with the story.**

**Bending Origin**

**Chapter 5 – Aftershock**

**By xAvatarLovex**

Zuko grunted and woke. His dream remained vivid in his head all day. As much as he tried to ignore Sokka and not bump into Katara, it didn't work out. After school, they happened to have finished whatever they were doing in their respective rooms at exactly the same moment and it would, of course, be rude to walk past without saying 'hi'.

"Uh, hi Katara," Zuko greeted, pretending to be cheery.

"Heyy Zuko. Thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

"Last night at the headquarters."

"What headquarters?"

"Oh, you don't remember? Or weren't you there as well?"

Uh, you mean the dream? You had the same one?"

"Yeah. I thought it was real, but no. It was a dream. I've always wanted to be a spy like I was in that dream. The minute I found myself as one, I knew it was too good to be true."

"Mm… So do you think what happened was real? Or was it just because of our suspicions? Wait, hang on. I had suspicions something fishy was going on from the start, but you never said…"

"Oh. I've always had such suspicions as well. I just didn't want to voice them aloud as I… I dunno, didn't want to admit it, I guess."

"Is Sokka being your brother true? And about you and Aang?"

"Me and Aang, yes. Sokka being my brother, I don't know because I was never told I had a brother. In fact, since we have so much time, why don't I tell you about it. It feels funny when you tell someone something but you only tell them half of it."

"Sure. Let's go to my room. It's bigger. Which reminds me, I forgot to feed my bird…"

Just as Aang walked out of his room, he saw Zuko and Katara walk into Zuko's room. He balled his hands into fists and went back inside.

It wasn't like Aang to get jealous so easily, but it seemed like Katara just triggered anger.

Once in the room, Zuko put some more seeds into his budgie's now empty food bowl and sat on the bed while Katara just stood there, watching him. As he leaned against the pillow, he patted the spot next to him, gesturing for Katara to sit. She nodded and sat, leaning against the soft headboard.

"Okay…so you were gonna tell me about something?"

"Yeah. My story. Okay. Starting from when I was 4, my mum had an illness. No medicine of any sort could heal her. Then, a few days after my fifth birthday, she literally collapsed on the kitchen floor. Dad discovered her first. I was splashing water onto her face and a few seconds after she paled, the water moved of its own accord. I was scared at first, because water can't move by itself, but then I realised I could control it. If I moved this way, it would, if my hands moved that way, it would. Later, I coated my palms with water and pressed it to mum's face, hoping she'd wake up. At the time, I didn't know she was dead. My hands glowed and mum's face cleaned instantly. I thought she would be okay, but she wasn't. I put a finger against her nose but she wasn't breathing. I started crying, after that. I always thought it was my fault for not discovering my healing powers earlier, but dad didn't blame me. Aang came t-to live with us shortly a-afterwards and he became like a brother to me," Katara finished, tears welling in her eyes. Then she let it all go as Zuko wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer, turning her so she cried into his chest.

Zuko just sat there holding her as she sobbed into his chest, creating a growing wet patch. He glanced at the clock to find that it was dinner time. They had missed training and would miss dinner if they didn't go down soon. As he turned his head to Katara, he found that she was asleep, using his chest as a pillow.

He slowly lifted her head and placed it onto one of his pillows and covered her with his blanket. He got up slowly and quickly fed his pets before they made noise and woke Katara then headed out for dinner and to alert the others that Katara was asleep. Conveniently, he decided to leave out the bit where she was sleeping.

Aang, however, asked. Zuko thought for a moment, then decided to answer, "I don't know…in her room, maybe?"

Aang, who just happened to be stalking Katara and Zuko since he saw them enter Zuko's room together, questioned it further. "Okay. I think I'll go visit her, make sure she's okay, you know?"

"Uh, sure. Can't stop you. Now, may I be excused? I'm not particularly hungry today."

Sokka nodded into his chicken as Zuko left.

He raced up the stairs and charged into his room to find Katara had just woken up, most likely due to the loud noise of the door banging.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Aang found Zuko's actions suspicious. How often do you see him take a girl into his room and lie and say she was in her own? _And I thought he was good man,_ Aang thought.

"May I be excused?" Aang asked, earning another nod from Sokka. Toph frowned. It wasn't often that Aang wouldn't stay till the end of dinner. _Something must be up,_ she thought but stayed where she was. After all, seismic sense always worked!

Upstairs, Zuko quickly told Katara what was going on but he got a glare in return.

"Oh, Aang would understand. It doesn't matter, just tell him I'm in here, he can come in, right?"

"Oh, of course! I'll go do that now…" Zuko mumbled before retreating from his room in a way a servant would retreat from the room of a princess. After all, Katara was a princess to him.

"Ah, Aang, just the man I was looking for!" Zuko began cheerily, "I told a lie earlier. Katara is in my bedroom, not hers. She says you can visit her in there."

"Uh, _your_ bedroom, Zuko?" he hesitates then heads towards the direction Zuko just came from.

Aang walked up to the door and wrenched the knob open, finding Katara laying her head on the soft headboard and reading.

"Heyy Katara," Aang began.

"Hi Aang. If you were wondering, I'm not feeling particularly hungry right now."

"So you chose to sit in a man's room, on his bed and read?" Aang asked with mild, okay severe, shock.

"Aang, I thought you would understand! I was actually having a friendly conversation with Zuko before I grew so tired as to fall asleep! He, being very gentlemanly, let me reside here until I woke and the only thing I could think of to occupy myself with was to read until he came back as I wanted to thank him for his kindness and generosity. You, however, have decided to worry about me because I am in the bed of another man. If you haven't noticed, I'm fully dressed!"

"Oh, I'm sorry Katara. That's not what I meant. You see, I was worried about you, since you didn't turn up to training or dinner. I thought you were ill or something," Aang said then glanced at Zuko and shot daggers at him. If looks could kill, Zuko would be long gone. Luckily though, they can't.

"Come on Katara, let's go."

"Okay. Thanks Zuko! Bye!" Katara said, then let herself get dragged out by Aang with a sad look in her eyes and a fake smile plastered on her lips.

Zuko could easily tell that she liked his presence over Aang's dominant one.

_I have to get her back! _

**A/N: HAHAHA! Zutara! My current fav pairing in A:TLA! All the main character's are sounding OC but that's okay because since I'm obsessed with Harry Potter, I've decided to mix the personalities a little. However, they are more Dramione (Draco/Hermione then the Canon because that is my fav couple. They are as follows:  
>Aang – Ron<br>Katara – Hermione  
>Zuko – Draco<br>Toph – Ginny? Toph doesn't really have one.  
>Sokka – Blaise Zabini? Or Harry? But with an excessive eating disorder?<strong>

**Anyways, so I am writing a Harry Potter fic called 'Partners to Lovers' so go check that out if you have time and like to read HP!**

**Please review as it brings me great happiness and motivates me to write more! Oh, and I forgot to mention this is a filler chapter, so it is shorter than normal. Normal chapters I try to write at least 2000 words but in fillers, I obviously write less. **

**Okay enough nonsense and blabbering, it's time for you to click that button down there and review! =)**

**-xAvatarLovex**


	7. Chapter 6

**Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. ****Until now.**** Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**A/N: Heyy guys! I have been asked once again if Ozai is Zuko's father. The answer is kind of. This is because I have something prepared for you later on, but for now just pretend that he's not. So, just read on and in a few chapters time, the drama will begin. If you want to see the Drama unfold quicker, do a simple deed and REVIEW! You guys are all awesome for reading my story! Read on and see Zuko's relation to Katara unfold! I've decided to start writing in different character's points of views as well so review and tell me if you'd rather me not, or if you think that this is better! I'm on a Harry Potter high right now so the only thing that keeps me updating is so that I can update my Harry Potter story(it's a Dramione) because I told myself that I have to do one chapter of this then a chapter of that etc. so some of these characters will have the personality I like to portray in Harry Potter. A full listing can be found on the Author's Note at the bottom of the last chapter. Oh, and to anyone who can help… Does anyone know more about hits? Because in my stories it says I'm getting this many visitors and this many hits but I don't know what the hits are. Is it how many times the same person clicks on/opens the story? Because there's always more hits than visitors by lots! Thanks, if you could help! =)  
>VOTE IN YOUR REVIEWS NOW TO MAKE THIS STORY ZUTARA OR KATAANG!<strong>

**Bending Origin**

**Chapter 6 – Winning Her Back**

**By xAvatarLovex**

**Zuko's P.O.V.**

I hate him. Aang is way too manipulative. How can he be so blind as to not be able to see that Katara is not happy? I thought he was monk but obviously he's a blind monk. I was taught that monks could see with their soul but Aang seemed like a different kind. He was vegetarian – like a monk. He wouldn't hurt a fly – like a monk. But his soul was not pure. He was not a proper monk. He was a manipulative git.

It was easy to tell that Katara did not whole-heartedly like him. Certainly not as a boyfriend and barely as a brother. One could almost say that Katara basically hated him right now. But of course she would not say that. She was too sweet to say such a harsh emotion.

_I have to get her back._

That was it. There was nothing in my mind but her. I cannot sleep at night. I cannot eat, study, do anything without her on my mind. How is it that this foreign emotion I feel towards Katara is stopping me from doing daily things? Every time we pass each other during school or at the Institute, my body would immediately feel an urge to go and hug her, kiss her even. Sometimes I would feel myself blush. _Blush!_ Since when did I blush? Blushing was not something I did. You don't see tough guys blushing. It just wasn't normal. Sure, Aang would blush but that was because he was Aang. Aang wasn't the kind of guy who would go around not blushing and acting oblivious. He was weak. I am not. Only weak men blushed the way he was doing so now. I am _not,_ and I repeat _not_, weak.

With that I started devising my plan on revenge and taking her back. I grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and started jotting down notes.

**Revenge and Taking Back the Water Princess**

_Make him jealous. Spend more time with her. Get to know her better then attempt to date her, even if it's only an act date. _

_Confess feelings to her. (Risky – only if all else fails)_

_Spend more time with her. Not make him jealous but just get to know her and act oblivious of him or act casual and dumb. (Him: Can I have her now? Me: Sure. See you tomorrow. Me: Hi. Am I interrupting you? (possibly during setup intimate moment) ) Anger him._

_Act on impulse. Make him angry or ignore his anger and act as if nothing is wrong until he is too mad. Accuse him of punching? Physical bullying. _

_Talk to her about past. _

_Kiss her on impulse._

_If all fails, just take her – literally. Burn him if completely necessary. She can heal. She will heal if she feels anything but hate towards him._

There. At least one of those should work. I might as well go try one now. It's Saturday so the others will most likely be in their rooms anyways.

I went into Aang's room without knocking. To my surprise, it went according to plan. If that was possible, as I had not intended for this to happen. They did not notice me, however, much to my relief. I smirked then started talking.

"O-o-oh-h! I-I-I'm s-so s-s-sorry! I-I-I d-didn't know. I-I-I'll c-come back l-later," I falsely stuttered. As I glanced at Katara, I saw that she was struggling. _Struggling._ Why was she struggling? I thought they were in this together. Or are they? Did Katara even love Aang as a brother, or was he threatening her? I had to get to the bottom of this.

"OH! HOW DARE YOU COME IN WITHOUT KNOCKING?"

"Uh, I understand I interrupted you but Katara looks almost… relieved that I came in. She seemed like she was… possibly struggling. Why is that?"

"S-struggling? Why no, of course not. She was probably just enjoying our moment, until _you ruined it_."

"NO!" Katara suddenly shouted.

"W-what do you mean, no?" Aang gasped.

"U-uh, I mean no to Zuko. I-I was most c-certainlynot struggling and I was indeed enjoying our moment until Zuko _rudely_ interrupted us," Katara stuttered, although you could very well see in her eyes the exact opposite of those words. She had a sad look in her eyes, a look that worried me. She looked scared, even.

"Well?" Aang asked.

"Umm… I came here to see if I could speak to you, privately, but obviously I don't seem to be able to so I'll come back later," I stated plainly then made my way to the door.

"No, wait. Is it important?" Aang asked.

"Kinda."

"Okay. I'll see you first. See you, Kat."

"Kat?" I asked, perplexed.

"Yes, _Kat_," Aang spat, "I can call her whatever I please, thank-you."

"Eh, whatever," I replied and walked further into the room as Katara began to make her way out. As she passed me, she smiled and her eyes seemed to show gratitude.

I was confused. Gratitude? What had I done for her? Oh, well.

"So?" Aang asked.

"You… and Katara."

"What about us?"

"Your relationship."

"And?"

"Explain it."

"What about it?"

"Your relationship!"

"What's there to explain?"

"Seriously, are you that stubborn? I said, e-x-p-l-a-i-n your r-e-l-a-t-i-o-n-s-h-i-p! Therefore, you will tell me about it. Got it?"

"Still don't know what you want me to explain but I'll just say whatever. We met after her mother died and she always saw me as her brother. Her real brother was believed to have died soon after the death of her mother and Katara basically forgot about him. As we grew older, we grew closer and I started becoming attracted to her. She seemed distant at first, and then we grew closer. When we came together after I found my ability to airbend, we met you and since then she seemed more distant again and even reluctant to do… things."

"Mhmm. So you're saying it's my fault that Katara suddenly hates you?"

"SHE DOES NOT HATE ME!" Aang roared, much to my surprise. But that was good. I was getting what I wanted. I had a feeling he was saying that more to comfort himself then go against what I was saying.

"Oh? Pray, tell me why it is she is acting distant then."

"I-I d-don't know. I can't read her mind. All I can do is win her back."

"Win her back from what? Someone better than you?"

"NO! I am winning back h-her love. There is nobody here that she would want more than the boy she has known all her life."

"Really? Are you sure she would not get tired of the boy she has _known all her life_?"

"N-no. She will not get tired of me. Never."

"Are you sure? She seemed to not seem awfully comfortable with you earlier. Maybe she is…"

"KATARA HAS MOST CERTAINLY NOT GOT TIRED OF ME AND WHATEVER YOU SAY WILL NOT CHANGE THAT! SHE WILL ALWAYS BE MINE!"

"What do you mean, she will always be yours? Are you saying that you are not allowing her to leave you? To not allow her to move on, should the time come that she will not like you anymore?" I asked, truly amazed and wanting to pommel him.

"No, that's not what I meant. I-I meant that she would not leave me, not that she wouldn't be allowed to," Aang stuttered furiously. Maybe he _was_ trying to hide something. Maybe he _was_ manipulating Katara. Why else would she feel suddenly uncomfortable around Aang? Why else would she open up to me? Now that I thought about it, Katara seemed to say Aang's name with slight _venom_ or possibly _hurt_ or maybe even _hatred_.

_Hatred._

If she loved him, she would _never_ use hatred in her voice while saying his name. This proved that she did not love him.

She did not love him.

Why? Did she love someone else? Aang had mentioned that she had only been distant since after they had arrived at the Institute. Was it me?

_Oh My God._

It was me. Why else would she have taken my side? Why else would she have opened up to me when she barely knew me? It had to be me.

I decided to go talk to her afterwards and answered Aang with a simple nod, "That was nice to know. I will go now. I'll see you around."

With a perplexed look, Aang just stared. His face started growing red but he didn't say anything, just letting me leave. I had a feeling he felt suspicious of me; after all, I just left after what could have been called an argument. I probably could have made an excuse, then left but I was in such a rush I didn't feel the need. How I had been wrong.

As I opened the door, I realised that Katara had just emerged from her room, possibly after crying as her eyes seemed red and puffed, her cheeks wet. I walked over to her.

"Heyy, you okay?"

"Yeah, fine," she sniffled. Her expression and appearance showed the exact opposite of fine.

"No you're not. You've been crying. What wrong?" I asked softly. I led her in the direction of my room, my hand around her waist. Luckily Aang had not emerged from his room yet.

As I closed and locked the door, tears streamed down her face once more. I led her to the bed and waited as she cried.

After a while, she sniffled and spoke. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"What for?"

"Bothering you."

"It's alright. You're not bothering me. Do you want to talk about it?"

She sniffled, "Only if you want to hear about it. I seem to be taking out all my troubles on you, it must be slightly annoying."

"It's fine," and that was the truth.

"Okay, but you have to never tell anyone, especially not Aang. I'll deal with any problems myself. You can keep a secret, right?"

"Yeah, sure."

**A/N: TAADAA! Now you have it! What will Katara say to Zuko? I don't know, what do you think? Hope you're enjoying the story so far and please, for me to update faster, REVIEW. It's very simple, just click that little button down there and write a few words and there you have it, a review!**

**-xAvatarLovex**


	8. Chapter 7

**Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**A/N: Heyy! Not much to say except what are hits? I still don't understand what it means by how many hits I get, I only know what the visitors are. Nobody has reviewed to help, so could you please help out? Thanks and here is the next chapter. There will be a mention of rape in here, so do you think the rating should go up? I'm not sure because T is for Teens and most teens these days will know this stuff anyway… Anyways, this chapter may be a bit shorter since it's a filler on Katara and Aang's relationship. =)**

**Bending Origin**

**Chapter 7 – Katara and Aang's relationship**

**By xAvatarLovex**

Katara's P.O.V.

"Well, you know how we met and it was like that for quite a while. We were like brother and sister but when I turned thirteen, he asked me out. He was only twelve then. I immediately agreed because at that time, I was foolish and thought it would work since we had already known each other for so long and were not only like siblings but we were like best friends, too. It was going great, too. Uh, no details. Anyways, we were fine until I came here and as he saw you, he seemed to be overprotective of me. Like threatening me that if I leave him, he will do something to me or my family. I guess he's just scared, but I got so scared of him that I told you we were only friends, refusing to acknowledge our relationship in hopes of making it not real. Obviously, that was just foolish of me."

Zuko just stared at me, mouth agape. "H-he was using you!" he exploded.

I merely nodded, unsure of what to do. I decided to reassure Zuko as he seemed so angry he could explode! His face was red and a vein could be seen throbbing slightly through the side of his forehead.

In the end, I decided on comfort, "Look, Zuko, it's nothing, really. He didn't do that much. All we did was kissed and he… g-groped," I choked out.

"WHAT!"

I regretted saying he groped. Kissing was probably fine, but groping? No. Obviously not.

"Uh, it was nothing, really," I tried.

"Oh, sure. More like you were just being RAPED!"

I was thankful that the doors and walls of his room was soundproof because if anyone did walk pass and hear that it would not only sound odd, but inappropriate.

"I was _not_ raped!" I exclaimed, annoyed.

"Oh, and you know that so well? I'm pretty sure you were. Engaging in sexual activity without permission of both partners. Rape. You looked pretty uncomfortable when I walked in on you two."

"Oh, that was because I was lacking oxygen and he was on top of me so I was trying to get away," I lied in hopes of calming him but to no avail.

"He was _suffocating_ you? Have you realised that you could have died, Katara? Or has he told you so much _good_ about himself that your mind is plagued with things about the _goodness_ of him?"

"Y-you! I shouldn't of told you this in the first place. I knew you would erupt in anger at some point," I sobbed.

"I-I'm sorry," I heard him say before I broke down in tears.

He, being the one that would always comfort me even if it was really awkward, wrapped his arm around me and laid my head gently on the soft headboard. He turned my head into his chest and wrapped his arm halfway around my waist, rubbing the small of my back. I flung my arms blindly upwards in hopes of finding his neck. Luckily, my arms reached it's destination without accidentally whacking him in the face. He held me like that as he waited for me to calm down as I sobbed into his well-toned chest. He pressed his lips to my forehead. I sighed and leaned into him.

After what seemed like forever, I had nothing left in me and I felt calmer than before.

I sighed again as Zuko stirred. I suspected he had fallen asleep, as much as he tried to deny it.

"_Fell asleep?" I asked._

"_Hmm… Oh, of course not. Just resting my eyes."_

"_Right… You were asleep."_

"_I was not asleep! Calming myself, actually."_

"_Weren't you resting your eyes?" I mocked._

"_Both," he replied, defeated._

We both knew full well that he was he fell asleep but surprisingly, I didn't care.

Usually, if a guy fell asleep while comforting me, I would have gotten mad at him but for some reason, Zuko seemed to be an exception.

I leaned into his chest, what seemed to now be a very comfortable pillow on my part, and gave him a questioning look, indicating that he could continue ranting or could say something about Aang and I.

"I won't tell him, but only if you promise to not hurt yourself and tell someone as soon as possible," was all he said.

I smiled in relief, "Thanks."

He smiled, "Come to me if you have any problems?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Be careful," he whispered more into my hair then to me, but I heard him.

"Mmm…"

He looked into my eyes then his eyes flew to my lips for a second. I knew what was about to happen and for some reason, I did not feel ready.

"Ahem! Uh, is that the time already," I exclaimed, glancing at Zuko's clock.

He turned and gasped, "Oh! Wouldn't want you to miss dinner two times in a row!"

I merely smiled and pushed myself off the bed. I missed his warm touch instantly, the second I left him. I groaned and went into his bathroom without his permission to freshen up. After all, I probably looked a mess!

Certainly wouldn't want Aang to get the wrong idea!

As I finished up, I left Zuko's room in peace. Now that I knew that someone knew my secret, I felt safer, should anything happen to me, although I sincerely hoped that nothing would.

As I made my way down to dinner, I was greeted by Aang's piercing gaze, Sokka stuffing food into his mouth, not noticing I was there and Toph glancing upwards for a second before returning back to her food.

I smiled and sat down as if nothing had happened. Everyone but Aang ignored me, since it was perfectly normal for me to arrive a few minutes late, even though I was usually the always perfect one.

"Where have you been?" Aang asked immediately after I took a seat.

"Why should you care?" I retorted, not in a mood to answer any questions.

"You skipped practice and you never bothered to come back to my room."

"So? Is not returning such a crime? Oh, and I skipped training because I wasn't feeling particularly well."

"Where have you been? You weren't even in your room."

"Why do you need to know? Last time I checked, the door to my room was closed. How would you know?"

"I looked inside."

"No trespassing. It would be awfully nice if you knocked first then if there was no reply, come back later."

"Since when has that ever applied to me?"

"From the day we arrived here. I made that clear already."

"WHAT?"

"Go Sugar Queen!" Toph suddenly shouted, a smirk adorning her face.

I turned to Toph, "Sugar Queen?"

"Yeah. You're sweet, so is sugar. Don't know where the 'queen' came from but you seem like the type," she replied simply.

"Right…"

"I have nicknames for all of you, actually. Aang, you're Twinkletoes because of your airbending sometimes I can't sense you. Sokka is Meathead… who can guess why? Zuko is Sparky, his firebending obviously."

I smiled at Sparky. It suited him and it sounded cute. 'Twinkletoes' just sounded something a ballerina would be nicknamed!

"I see…" I replied simply.

"Anyways, since when did you forbid me to enter your room without knocking again?"

"Since… _it_ happened."

"Hang on, I don't get it. You two are having a fight and Sugar Queen isn't letting you enter her room because of _it_? What's it?"

"None of your business," Aang replied, briskly, "and Katara, there was no _it_. It was you and me and nothing else. I repeat, there was not it."

"Look Aang, there was and you know it. Don't you try to deny it. You may be scared but denying it won't help at all. In fact, don't you dare do anything. Empty threats don't go along well."

"Wait a minute… I am awfully confused. I always thought Aang was the sweet guy and Zuko would be the one with threats and all."

"Wrong," I said just as Aang said the opposite.

"Talking about Zuko, what have you been doing with him?" Aang asked.

"Nothing," I replied. That was partially the truth. We weren't exactly doing anything intimate, only talking. Two people could talk and it wouldn't matter, right?

At the talk of Zuko, he decided to show up just then.

"Hi guys!" he said cheerily. I looked into his eyes which showed the exact opposite. I know he had come down a bit later to avoid awkward questions as to why we were both late together.

"Where have you been?" Aang asked immediately.

"Asleep. Slept in past my alarm," he replied simply. Thank God for his skill in lying.

He sat down and we sat in silence.

After a few awkward minutes I stood up.

"May I be excused?" I asked then walked away after everyone but Sokka, who was still too busy in stuffing his face with chicken to notice, grunted in acknowledgement. I was thankful that nobody followed. I was not in the mood for talking right now.

**A/N: Heyy! I was going to make this chapter shorter since it was a filler but I decided we should here more of Toph, like a reviewer said, so I decided to do the dinner scene. Next will be another dream. Review and you will see it faster.**

**For those people who read Harry Potter and Dramione I recommend a story called What The Room Requires by Alydia Rackham. It's a really good story and was recommended to me by one of my reviewers. **

**And, does anyone here play Tetris Battle on .com ? If you do, send me your name and I will add you as a friend. I am DracoMalfoyLover. If you don't you should check it out coz Tetris is awesome! =)**

**And, what are hit? Help please!**

**-xAvatarLovex**


	9. Chapter 8

**Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**A/N: Hi! Thanks to those people who kindly reviewed! Now, I want your opinion on something. Do you think this story is moving a little too slowly? Yes? No? Tell me in a review please! I promise the action is coming soon! =) Here is the next chapter, sorry for not updating in forever!**

**Bending Origin**

**Chapter 8 – Another Dream**

**By xAvatarLovex**

**Katara's P.O.V.**

_I was back in the conference room again from…was it yesterday? It seemed so long ago, with everything that was going on. I peered at the vent in which Zuko sat last time. I hoped that he was there. At least he could be with me in my dreams, even if not in real life._

_I felt foolish for hoping but after I stared at that spot for a long time, he seemed to be, once again, dressed inappropriately and was clambering hastily into the vent so he could see more._

_Feeling self-conscious, I looked down. Once again, I was dressed in that sleek, black uniform that was tight around my body._

_Looking up, I smiled, looking into his eyes. In his eyes, I saw curiosity and pleasure._

_Foolishly, I dreamed again. I hoped that the pleasure was because he was seeing me. __**Of course not! **__I scolded myself, trying to think straight._

_As I shook my head, the large doors opened to find the man I recognized to be Ozai, flanked by two burly bodyguards enter the room and take a seat at the head of the table. Moments later, more people filed in._

_I could see Sokka._

_My heart shattered as I saw the admiration in his eyes, which, no doubt, was meant for Ozai. I had no idea how I knew Sokka was my long-lost brother. I just felt a strange connection towards him that I use to feel for Aang. It was brotherly love. After Sokka disappeared from my life, I had been told that Sokka had died in a tragic fishing accident although not much detail was given._

_He was evil. He had turned against his family and friends to become one of them. One of the 'evil ones.' No doubt Ozai had offered him a lot!_

_A lot he would never be able to give._

_Right then and there, I decided to stop Ozai myself. Or with the help of Zuko. Enlisting the help of him wouldn't be too bad since he was the first one suspicious. If he agreed to help, then we do it together. If not, well, I'll go alone._

_**Of course he would help you**__, an irritating voice in my head told me, __**he loves you.**_

_I quickly shut out that voice and listened intently to the conversation below._

"_Sokka," Ozai called, "have you got any more information yet?"_

"_No Sir," Sokka replied timidly._

"_Very well. Please find something, anything, before next week otherwise there may be consequences," Ozai threatened in a clear and calm but manipulative voice, "anybody else got anything?"_

_There was a shake of heads from the others in the room._

"_Meeting dismissed," Ozai called. _

_Everyone got up and with a small scrape of chairs, they were out the door._

_Ozai sighed, "Stupid child."_

_I immediately noticed that he was talking about Sokka. Firstly, he was the only child in the room and, well, there was no other possibility._

_I realised that I would not have much chance to talk to Zuko and since he was still there, I dashed quickly over to where he was._

_I arrived quicker than I would have thought possible but since it was a dream, I was not as surprised as I should have been. Well, more insights then dreams._

_Zuko stifled a gasp as I approached him._

"_It's alright," I soothed, "I just wanted to ask you something."_

"_Mmhmm…" he mumbled, not concentrating._

"_Zuko!" I hissed, "this is important."_

"_Oh! Right, go on…" _

"_I was going to ask if you would like to help me in defeating Ozai. We will have to put up a charade from the others. I don't want Aang to help. He ruins everything in my life. He already has. The only thing I have left is you. I thought maybe Toph would know anyway so we could involve her. She's not half as bad. She's actually kinda funny!"_

"_Hell yeah! Mission defeat Ozai! Toph can be in if you want, by the way," he added at the end. Unfortunately, we had to end the moment and pinch ourselves before Ozai discovered us as Zuko seemed to talk a little too loudly._

_I hoped that he would remember what happened tonight from watching those people converse, not that it was much of a conversation, to me asking for his help. _

_He had to remember. We didn't have much time. I wouldn't be allowed by that brat of a monk to visit Zuko much anymore._

_I just had to hope that this was like last time._

**A/N: There you have it folks! A little short, I'm sorry but I wanted to get something up and I didn't know what else to put. So sorry for not updating in so long. See you next time I update! =) Please review!**

**-xAvatarLovex**


	10. Chapter 9

**Summary: Bending. What's that? There was no such thing. Until now. Recently, Ozai, a scientist that researches supernatural controls of the elements, discovered four teenagers who were gifted with such powers. Zuko – a teen who discovers he can bend flames to his will. Katara – a teen that discovers her powers over the oceans, rivers and lakes a little too late. Aang – a teenage monk who discovers he has the ability to control air. Toph – a blind, yet powerful teenager who possesses the mastery to manipulate the earth as well as having the aptitude to sense even the slightest seismic activity.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender.**

**A/N: Yes, I haven't updated in months. BTW, Happy New Year! Anyways, that's because I got kinda over-obsessed with Twilight then I only felt like writing Harry Potter. But I've come back. Couldn't think of anything to write, either so suggestions would be nice. Thanks for those who did review.**

**Bending Origin**

**Chapter 9**

**By xAvatarLovex**

**Zuko's P.O.V.**

I woke with sweat everywhere.

I saw, and remembered, what happened in last night's dream…insight.

And I didn't know what to do. How is it possible to link Toph's mine with ours so she could hear what was happening as well? How did Katara and I do it in the first place?

I got out of bed with a headache.

_Wow. A headache this early in the morning. That's got to be a first._

Well, apart from hangovers.

I needed to talk to Katara and Toph and soon. We needed to link ourselves so we could communicate in dreams then talk about our plans to defeat Ozai.

And to make sure this was never written down since Sokka would have a chance of finding it if it was.

I quickly took a shower and changed before making my way downstairs.

Saturday. Finally.

We got a choice of pancakes or toast. With fruit. I honestly did not feel like eating, however so I decided to just eat a pear.

I went back upstairs to find Katara on the stair case. With Aang.

I froze and debated on whether I should ask to talk to her or not. I chose a simple, "Good morning Katara, Aang. How was your sleep? I had a rather interesting dream last night. Very informative. Wish it was real." I hope Katara understood what I meant. And wishing it was real. Well, the Toph bit.

I saw a tiny smile on her lips before I walked pass them and made my way to my room.

Once there, I lay on my bed thinking about what had happened in the last few days. The dreams. Katara. Ozai. Aang. Katara. More Katara. War. How we could be going to war. Ozai's money. Ozai's power. Strategies to win the war. Katara. What would happen if I lost Katara. The impossibility of losing Katara. How what Toph could do could help. A bit more on the sexiness of Katara. The chances of us winning…three teenagers against someone who had money, power and lots of goons. Basically, more on the war, how we were to win it and mostly Katara.

I couldn't live without that girl.

Didn't know how I did it before.

I wish I had her from the beginning. Then Aang wouldn't be all over her.

Slowly, I was starting to get a headache.

I glanced up at the clock. It was eleven already. I groaned and got up, fed my pets and went downstairs for an early lunch. Sometimes I regret buying those pets. What would I do with them? Just leave them there making noises because they were hungry if I was to escape this place? Surely someone would notice the noise after a while. Even if it was a soundproof room.

I guess I could put a notice on my door saying something along the lines of 'Do Not Disturb' 'Busy. Disturb at Your Own Risk' or something because people didn't like me that much in the first place anyways.

Well except for Katara. And maybe Toph. But, it seemed like the guys hated me.

I sighed, made a quick sandwich, of which I ate then went back to my room and lay there until four at which time I went and did the testing but I tried to be as weak as possible.

No clue how that would help us except for maybe catching the other people by surprise.

Sokka continuously gave me weird looks because of my lousy bending. Katara wasn't so good herself today but it seemed genuine. Her mood was not in her usual cheerful self mood but more like _why can't it just be over with?_ mood.

Well, then again ,I wouldn't be overly surprised seeing as she was stuck with Aang, whom she disliked strongly, and couldn't be with me, whom I think she would prefer much more.

Suddenly, an idea occurred to me. It was the perfect time to "accidentally" put Aang on fire. If Katara liked him even the slightest bit, she would save him.

Of course, I would reign the flames so they don't actually touch him. And make arm movements and say that I couldn't control the flames.

This idea was good but would Katara get mad?

Yes.

Would she approve?

No.

Would she approve if I told her I did it for her?

Most likely not.

But I was willing to take the chances.

So I did.

"Aahh!" I cried before swinging my arms wildly and landing the flames on Aang.

"Oh, no! I can't control them!" I cried.

A worried look formed on Katara's face as Aang started screaming in pain because of the heat.

I kept moving my arms, controlling the fire so it would not touch him but I saw Katara's face. She was a nice person. Even if that person had caused her grief, she would save him. I sighed.

May as well rein the fire in before he goes all 'Oh, you're my hero!' on Katara.

But then, I didn't because if Katara was a hero, maybe he wouldn't treat her so badly.

Katara lifted some water from her pouch and smothered the flames with them.

"Zuko!" she cried. I knew by her tone that she knew that was on purpose.

"Sorry," I said, but not with shame in my voice.

I had made sure some burns were on Aang's clothes just to make it somewhat believable. Well, to Sokka anyways. Ozai didn't need to know of any of our weaknesses, especially how much I hated Aang.

And I had a feeling Katara would be giving me a stern talk soon. In the next dream we share, most likely.

"Heyy, Toph? Can I talk to you privately for a sec?" Katara asked and I knew she would be telling her about Ozai and the plan.

"Yeah, sure," the girl replied.

"Um, can I talk after that?" I asked, having this feeling that she would say no.

"She will," Katara answered for her because she knew that after her talk Toph would talk to me.

"Okay, I'll be in my room when you guys are done." With that, I left and made my way back to my room, leaving a fuming Aang behind.

**A/N: So how will Toph take the news? Will Toph be added to their dreams? Your choice. Review to tell me what **_**you **_**want to happen. I have no solid plan for this story although there are certain things that must happen. Answer the questions above to give me ideas and majority rules! If lots of people want Toph to take the news badly, then so be. I might just do that. If you guys don't want Toph to be added to Zutara's dreams, I won't add her. Actually, I might. Depends on you guys. **

**Please review. And if you like Harry Potter and Dramione check out my story 'Partners to Lovers'. **

**Chapter 11 is out, hopefully, this or next week. Maybe today. =)**

**R&R!**

**-xAvatarLovex**


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